Welcome to the 267th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal ("NLJ") and its short-form writing sister publication, The Emu Café Social ("ECS"). This newsletter comes to you as always from the administrator, editor, and writer of both publications, Nicholas A. Ferrell.

I would like to claim that this is a special Valentine's Day edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, but it is only a "Valentine's Day edition" because Valentine's happens to fall on a Saturday this year. But I will have some Valentine "content" (as the marketers like to call it) for you to go with our usual collection of links to and discussions of my new articles and links from around the web.

Leaves from the week that was

I published just two new New Leaf Journal articles since mailing Newsletter 266, but I like to think that they are good ones.

In AI Game Worlds and Humane Games, I used Google's new Project Genie, which apparently produces 3D worlds based on prompts, to instead make the case for free and open source tools which allow human beings to make games for other human beings. In the middle of everything, I smuggled in a few jokes about the AI-driven RAM pricing crisis, which evinces that I had originally intended to use the link that inspired this article in our Newsletter's links section (coming up next).

Sticking with humane tech, I ended the week with The Positive Case for Good Tech, which was foreshadowed by an ECS post I shared in last week's newsletter. Using NLJ and feeds and feed readers as examples, I made the case for defending good tech for human beings in a positive way instead of in contrast to big tech, AI, or whatever it is one would caution against using or over-using.

I was busier in terms of number of posts (albeit not word count) on ECS.

• Things I Learned: Hedgehogs, Erinaceiane: I learned that hedgehogs are a subfamily of erinaceiane while researching my first NLJ article of the week. It all makes sense somehow.

• Things I Learned: Berlin’s Road Salt Ban: Relatedly, I learned that New York City's present snow cleanup problems could be worse.

• Even the Cheap Computer Cubes Are Out of Stock: You can never publish too many articles and posts making light of what big AI is doing to RAM prices.

• Newsletters and Email Clipping: This newsletter is published with Buttondown. I read the Buttondown blog. It teaches me things about email (and newsletters).

• Atlus Forgets a Persona Protagonist: I noticed that one Persona protagonist was missing from a piece of 30th anniversary Persona commemorative art. I claimed offense and then used my offense as an excuse to share links to most of my Persona articles and posts.

• Criminal Sentencing in Nigeria: Focus on the community service.

For those of you who are also following my ECS Activity Stream (I personally recommend), you will also find a preview of my next NLJ article.

Leaves from around the web

I did not add as many links to my backlog last week as I had in some recent weeks. Thus, I return to our normal 21 links around the web (which promises to leave room for a special Valentine's section).

Happy Valentine's Day!

An invitation to the opulent 19th century Bachelors’ Ball, held every year on Valentine’s Day
Ephemeral New York. February 9, 2026.

"Is there a modern equivalent of the Bachelors’ Balls? With so many people unhappy with dating apps, maybe it’s time to put them back on the calendar and open them up to every love-seeking New Yorker."¹

How Chocolate and Valentine's Day Mated for Life
Amy Henderson for Smithsonian Magazine. February 12, 2026.

Richard Cadbury was the best matchmaker.

Are All the Good Men Married?
Cremieux Recueil. September 13, 2025.

The charts suggest they're not mailing free newsletters every Saturday, at least.

Stay in a hotel in Japan where you can see a UFO
Oona McGee for SoraNews24. November 8, 2025.

You wouldn't want to see into that UFO.

Rotten tricks: How hot and stinky plants woo pollinators
Rachel Ehrenberg for Knowable Magazine. April 23, 2025.

They don't woo me but no one accused me of being a pollinator.

Feel good adorable things

These Planes Are Mimicking Enemy Shahed-136 Drones In U.S. Military War Games
James Deboer for The War Zone. February 2, 2026.

Am I the only one who thinks the little planes are adorable?

Hungry goats helping Glendale mitigate wildfire risks
Tracey Leong for NBC Los Angeles. July 11, 2024.

I approve of firefighter goats but make sure to follow up up by letting firefighters put out fires that may start despite the best efforts of the firefighting goats.²

Pufferfish Venom Can Kill, Or It Can Relieve Pain
Lewin Day for Hackaday. December 15, 2025.

I know it's beside the point but look into the eyes of the pufferfish in the featured image.

Let's check in on AI and related events in history

Surf's Up in Slop City
Lincoln Michel. February 10, 2926.

Thanks to Mr. Michel's detective work, we are left with the impression that by being lazy in putting together a report on AI erotica Kindle slop producers, the NYT inadvertently ran an advertisement for the workshops of the AI erotica Kindle slop producers.

Roblox debuts tool for players to AI-generate interactive in-game objects, promises "full scene generation" is coming
Jon Hicks for Games Industry.biz. February 4, 2026.

Maybe Roblox will solve the whole "giving random adults access to children" problem by melting the brains of its user-base with new AI features.³

The Great California Pyramid Scheme Mania of May 1980
Steve Sailer. March 5, 2009.

You have to tip your hat to pyramid schemes that make pyramids part of their branding.

Things you don't want on the internet

Patients of premier NYC plastic surgeon had hacked nude images posted online — and doc ‘ignored pleas for help’: suit
Peter Senzamici for the New York Post. January 11, 2026.

Starting to think some of the surgeons whose primary business is convincing women to undergo unnecessary surgeries for thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars aren't holding themselves to the highest standards of the profession.

Use of Still from "Girls Do Porn" Video to Criticize Later Employer of Alleged Participant Is Fair Use, not Copyright Infringement
Eugene Volokh at The Volokh Conspiracy. February 9, 2026.

Buried lede: Forbes recognized a 24-year old woman with no credentials who was part of an apparent crypto scam on a "30 under 30 list"? Buried lede two: While Eugene Volokh possesses an immense intellect, I think I'd hire someone else to handle redactions.

Point and counter-point

Canterbury Cathedral Surrenders to the Vandals
Theodre Dalrymple for City Journal. October 16, 2025.

The original Vandals had better taste.

An Instant Gratification Game Boy Printer
Tom Nardi for Hackaday. January 19, 2025.

The Game Boy Printer was fun but Nintendo didn't come up with much to do with it.

Someone take their phones

Tom Brady is fighting time on Instagram
Charlotte Wilder. January 8, 2026.

Now that Philip Rivers' comeback has concluded, can someone entice Tom Brady to return just to keep him off the streets and Instagram?

Jason Williams thinks Jared McCain's personality is why NBA teams don't want veterans
Yakshpat Bhargava for Basketball Network. February 10, 2026.

I'm not familiar with Mr. McCain's game but I would have some concern about giving millions of dollars to someone who is determined to build his TikTok following.

Japanese man accepts hostess’ invitation for night view date, sees type of stars he didn’t want to
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. September 6, 2025.

Not like that! Take their phones without violence!⁴

Knowledge is power

Why the Right Way To Fly a Rhino Is Upside Down
Tudor Tarita for ZME Science. April 16, 2025.

Reset your priors on the "right" way to fly a rhino.

What Exactly Is a Qipao?
Yu Ying for Sixth Tone. February 12, 2026.

I once covered the history of 19th century autumn dress trends. Should I expand to 19th century Chinese dress trends?

Taking advantage of cinema news to dig into my link backlog

Rare Watercolor by 'Wuthering Heights' Author Emily Brontë Will Go on Public Display for the First Time
Eli Wizevich for Smithsonian Magazine. April 16, 2025.

Setting aside the fact that much of the painting's value is tied up in the painter's renown as a writer, it is an objectively better painting than many paintings that sell for much more.

Valentine's Reading

This is the first-ever Valentine's Day edition of The New Leaf Journal. Unfortunately, I do not have any Valentine's Day articles prepared (as you saw I didn't even have many Valentine's links saved). But I do have some relevant Valentine's-adjacent articles in The New Leaf Journal archives...

Decorations

Last year I published Inflatable Valentine’s Bears in Brooklyn. I don't want to say too much lest I spoil what this article is about.

On-Point Photography

In May 2015, I took three photographs of two squirrels on a bench in Battery Park (Manhattan). Nearly six years later, I used those photographs in a NLJ article: Photographing a Squirrel Kiss in Three Acts. In February 2022, I published Brooklyn Graffiti: “Love is Free Not cheap”, which featured my photograph of a marked-up discarded refrigerator in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill.

Literature and Art

One of my personal favorite NLJ articles is The Pine Tree Lovers of the Takasago, wherein I covered two late 19th/early 20th century English language summaries of the Japanese Noh drama, the Takasago. "They had loved so well and so splendidly, in old age as well as in youth, that the Gods allowed their souls to come back again and wander round the pine-tree that had listened to their love for so many years."

One week after Valentine's Day in 2022, I published W.E. Tucker’s “The Valentine” Engraving.

Research Articles

On Valentine's Eve on 2024, I published Sources On Ai Ai Gasa (Love Umbrella). Enjoy my romance-themed Japanese culture research article.

Visual Novels

I have reviewed several Valentine's-themed and close enough visual novels.

• EDDA Café Review: EDDA Café is a free English-language visual novel wherein a character remembers a certain tragedy that befell her on Valentine's Day. It is a short and aesthetic piece and easy to run cross-platform.

• Boko no Shokora Review: Boko no Shokora is a Japanese freeware romantic comedy with two parts, the first taking place on Valentine's Day and the second on White Day (where boys give gifts to girls who gave them gifts on Valentine's). I gave Boko no Shouora something of a mixed review, but there is an audience for it and you can use my review to decide if you're the audience for it (it is free, albeit it takes a small amount of work to get working).

• 40 Days and 40 Nights of Rain: My most recent visual novel review as of the mailing of this newsletter (but not much longer). 40 Days and Nights is a bleak freeware Japanese visual novel, but there is a small side-story chapter which falls on Valentine's Day (with that being said I would not describe it as a whole as a Valentine's piece).

• LoveChoice: My second-ever visual novel review covered LoveChoice, a Chinese visual novel available on Steam. I tagged it with Valentine's Day, so I assume Valentine's appears in the three-part love story (it has been a while since I read it, however).

• A Winter's Tale: A Winter's Tale is a freeware Japanese visual novel. I published my review on Valentine's Day in 2023 (I happened to syndicate by February 18, 2023 newsletter to NLJ, which references the review). Despite being a budding love story (or more a story of two friends headed in that direction), it does not feature Valentine's Day (instead featuring Christmas Eve as its date night). It has its quirks, but it earns high marks from me for how well the English localization reads.

Justin & Justina

I published two Justin and Justina dialogues with some Valentine's themes. Back on February 17, 2021, I published the somewhat Valentine's-related Justin & Justina: White Day Reciprocity. In 2022, Justina thanked Justin when she pulled the Christmas card he had sent her months early out of her full mailbox on Valentine's Day.

Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week

I left a placeholder for my weekly ranking intro in the newsletter last week instead of my standard introduction. But this week we are back!

I use a privacy-friendly and entirely local tool called Koko Analytics (see my 2025 article) to track page visits. In each issue of the newsletter, I list our five most-visited articles, according to Koko Analytics, for the one-week period beginning with Saturday and ending with Friday. Below, you will find our most-visited articles for the week of February 7-13 with notes on their cumulative ranking statistics going back to 2021.

1. Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 17, 2025.
   2026: 7 appearances and 6 top placements.
   Cumulative: 34 appearances and 27 top placements.

2. Adding noai.duckduckgo.com as Custom Search Engine
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 21, 2026.
   2026: 4 appearances and 1 top placement.

3. Amazon “Cargo Bikes” in Brooklyn
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. April 9, 2025.
   2026: 4 appearances.
   Cumulative: 39 appearances and 8 top placements.

4. Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 5, 2023.
   2026: 5 appearances.
   Cumulative: 24 appearances.

5. The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis
   Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 18, 2022.
   2026: 3 appearances.
   Cumulative: 66 appearances and 4 top placements.

Analysis

Our top two articles remain the same for the fourth week running and continue to separate themselves from the pack, with Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search easily taking the top spot for the 19th time in 20 weeks and Adding noai.duckduckgo.com as Custom Search Engine taking second by a strong margin. This week's top four is the current 2026 top-four in the order they made this week's ranking.

Taking leaf

This newsletter is now running long with all of my NLJ Valentine's links, so I trust that it has given you more than enough to read this Valentine's weekend. Remember: There is nothing better you can do on Valentine's Day and Valentine's weekend that immerse yourself in The Newsletter Leaf Journal.

Thank you as always for reading The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you enjoyed this issue and have not done so already, you can follow this newsletter by signing up for our weekly email, adding our RSS feed to your favorite feed reader, or checking in on our archive page.

Until the one-week anniversary of Valentine's 2026,
Cura ut valeas -- Nicholas A. Ferrell.